DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTERThirty years of Teaching, Learning, Caring for marine mammals and the environment we share.DRC is a nonprofit marine mammal education and research facility located in the heart of the fabulous Florida Keys. Home to a family of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions, DRC offers a variety of educational, fun, exciting programs, and close-up interactions. We hope you enjoy our blog!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

A few weeks ago, Pandora moved
back into the front lagoon with her daughter, Luna, and we’ve seen them hang
out quite a bit. The two of them, since they are mother and daughter, are
identified by pink zinc oxide on their dorsal fins. Pandora has a dot and Luna has
a stripe. Luna
seems to be becoming more and more like her mother every day.

Pandora is known for her love of target poles. The girl will
seriously tuck one under her flipper and carry it around for days! Turns out,
Luna has realized the fun in her momma’s game because one day when Pandora
wasn’t guarding her precious pole, little Luna managed to sweep in and get it
all to herself. When we realized that Luna had swiped her mama’s favorite toy,
we couldn’t help but giggle. Half of the time, we can’t get Pandora’s target
pole away from her so it’s awesome her little girl could!

As a fun loving young lady, Luna wasn’t happy just carrying
the target pole around like a dolphin accessory. Instead, she had a blast
diving deep down into the lagoon with it and then letting it pop back up!
Throughout the day, we’d see an object fly out of the water with a sweet little
dolphin eagerly after it. Pandora watches but doesn’t dare take away her
daughter’s new favorite toy. To make it fair, one of the trainers usually goes
onto the dock and throws another one out for Pandora.

Miss Pandora has a very unique dolphinality and it’s great
to see her little girl follow in her fluke prints. The two enjoy their time
together and also go off on their own with their “friends” in the lagoon. When
they decide it’s time for mother and daughter time, Luna and Pandora happily
swim along together.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Happy Birthday to Aleta, who turns 29 today. This beautiful lady knows she's a star and is never camera shy. Since giving birth to her little girl last month, Aleta has been enjoying the extra attention given to her by our photographers. Aleta is extremely creative and pushes her trainers to do things "the Aleta way". She loves getting to know new people and creating deep, meaningful relationships.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

For the first several years of a dolphin’s life, they live
in a maternity pod where they learn all of their behaviors from their mothers
and peers. Whether it’s where to get food or ways to entertain yourself, a lot
of what makes a dolphin a dolphin is created at the start of their lives. At
Dolphin Research Center, we are able to watch our family members from the first
day of birth as they come into their own and create their unique dolphinality.
Like humans, some dolphins learn more quickly than others. Some become
independent at a very young age while others stick with their mother years
longer than the rest of the pod.

Tursi is famous for keeping her calves longer than the other
dolphins. Her youngest, Gambit, is currently three years old and still nurses
in addition to eating some fish. The two of them do a lot of sessions together
and when they are at separate docks, Tursi comes over several times to check in
on her little boy. She’s notorious for taking a guest on a dorsal pull to the
other side of the lagoon just, to make sure Gambit is being a good little boy.

Since momma Tursi runs the show, we let her decide when she
thinks it’s time for Gambit to learn new games and play with new objects. Right
now, he is learning to adlib, when we push the coolers back and ask the
dolphins to do anything they choose. It’s a great game and shows us what
behaviors the dolphins enjoy most. It also allows them to be creative and come
up with ideas we never even thought to ask!

The funny part about Gambit learning to adlib is that he
repeats everything his mom does. If Tursi waves, Gambit waves. If Tursi does a
cartwheel, he does a cartwheel. It’s hilarious to see him copy her.

As Gambit gets a better handle on the concept of adlibbing,
he’ll begin to make up his own mind as to what he likes to do. Soon, he’ll be
ahead of his mom when we push back the coolers. Until then, we will continue to
enjoy whatever he decides.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Are you running out of time to get a gift for a loved one this holiday season? How about giving them a dolphin or sea
lion!Dolphin
Research Center is offering gift
adoption E-cards for marine mammal lovers.You decide the adoption amount, either $50, $100, or $240, and your recipient
chooses which of the dolphins or sea lions in the DRC family to adopt. Gift
adoptions include a full color certificate and photograph, animal biography, free
admission passes with complimentary guest admissions, access to the Members
Only Section of the DRC website, 10% Gift Shop discount on most items, and
newsletters. In the spirit of the holidays, your marine mammal enthusiast will
also receive a photo magnet of their adopted dolphin or sea lion. Gift adoptions can be made online at the DRC
website, www.dolphins.org.For more information, call the Membership
Department at 305-289-1121, ext. 229.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Happy Birthday to the beautiful Miss Cayo who turns seven today. Cayo is a free spirited dolphin who loves to help out in special needs swims and people watch. You can usually find Cayo, and her best friend Gypsi, along the sea wall by the front lagoon observing guests. Cayo loves to have kisses blown at her and will often blow a kiss back by making a smooching sound.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

The dolphins love to show off different behaviors. A lot of
times they add extra oomph to whatever they’re asked to do. This can include
Tursi’s signature scream at the height of her aerials or holding an object on a
flipper like we often see with Pandora and Calusa. However, there is one
behavior that the dolphins have recently shown off that makes us giggle so much
that we have to ask them for it over and over again. It’s called a shalligator!

As you know, dolphins are mammals so they move their tail up
and down when they swim. To demonstrate the difference between a mammal and a
fish we often ask the dolphins to show the crowd a shark behavior. As they swim
away from the dock, they move their tail side to side to propel through the
water.

The shark behavior is considered an imitation, as is their
alligator impression where they chomp their mouths up and down very quickly.
Sometimes the trainers get silly on the colder days, and to us anything below
85 is a little chilly, so they use the alligator behavior to say the dolphins are shivering.

However, thanks to the intelligence of all of the resident
dolphins, they’ve been able to show off their shalligator! This behavior is a
combination of both the shark and alligator impressions and results in a
chomping side to side swimming machine. Santini, the DRC teacher’s pet, was one
of the first dolphins to show this off and the rest have caught on.

At DRC, we follow trends and eagerly jump on the dolphin
band wagon whenever any of our wonderful family members does something we love.
However, the shalligator may be up there with some of the best behaviors. Not
only is this a great one to watch, but it’s also super fun to say!

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

We always try to make the dolphins happier, even in if the
way sometimes seems odd. Recently we noticed that a few of the dolphins have itchy
backs, so we created a “rub rope” in the front lagoon to help the boys and girls
scratch themselves. The rope is actually an old fireman’s hose material, which
the dolphins can glide on very easily without leaving any marks or scratches on
their skin.

It’s interesting to see how each dolphin interacts with the rub
rope. For the first week, all of the dolphins in the front inspected it
thoroughly, but did not actually make any moves on it. It seemed they wanted to
figure out what exactly it was first. We want the dolphins to understand why we
give them objects so instead of just putting the hose in the lagoon and waiting
for them to figure it out, one of the trainers, Kelly Jayne, got in the water
and demonstrated. .

Envision a dolphin trainer treading water, and rubbing
herself up and down a long rope while curious dolphins observe. Yes, it was as
hilarious as you’re imagining. Some of the guests, and possibly dolphins, might
have thought Kelly Jayne was a little crazy but it was all in good nature and
the dolphins got the hint.

Before you knew it, Delta and Louie rubbed themselves all
over the rope. Delta likes to scratch the top of his body while Louie enjoys a
rub on his peduncle. Other dolphins, like Gypsi, Cayo, Santini, and Reese, were
a little shyer and did several drive bys a day to inspect it and watch their
buddies.After a while, Gypsi and Cayo
began to use it, too.

The idea of a rub rope, or a trainer shimmying on it to show
the dolphins what it’s used for, may seem a little different but that’s what
makes it so fun here at DRC! We love to give the dolphins new experiences and
do whatever we can to make their lives better.Not only does it help us learn more about our awesome family members,
but we’re also able to share new stories with all of you.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Happy Birthday to Reese who turns one year old today! This awesome little dude is extremely independent and loves to play with all the other dolphins in his lagoon. Son of Santini, he's incredibly smart and loves taking part in Dolphin Encounters. His favorite part are the back rubs.

Not only is it his birthday, but it's the first day he becomes adoptable! If you'd like to adopt Reese please check out our website.